I will admit to having ....... ideas. Looks like the steering linkage is going to be the main stumbling block.
Is there a front sump pan for the 2.3 turbo motors? Ranger perhaps?
Also the turbo would either need to be relocated or replaced with a smaller more modern unit. Looks like it would rest on the shock tower otherwise.
Ok enablers, start enabling! If it is as easy as it looks something awesome could happen soon.
Dont you rebuild Ferraris with your eyes shut? Surely, you a can move the sump and pickup. 
RossD said:Dont you rebuild Ferraris with your eyes shut? Surely, you a can move the sump and pickup.
Well yes but, it sure has made me appreciate a bolt on OEM solution when available 
And maybe not with my eyes closed.
Sounds like Pintos are front-sump, and there are a few on car-part dot com, incl. one in PDX (though not as cheap as I'd hope a Pinto part would be at $150...)
Also found this reference to a couple minor tweaks when putting a front-sump pan on a rear-sump motor.
Bag that, when for another $75 you can get a baffled pan. (EDIT: Okay, third item in the FAQ doesn't fill me with confidence...)
How can Pintos be front sump? The steering is up there, isn't it?
In reply to Knurled. :
I'm as puzzled as you about any difference between a Pinto and a Mustang II... But I've seen enough discussion around it today to be convinced it's fact.
Guessing as the "compact car", the Pinto's firewall is further forward, and the engine and related bits are shoved further into that big front overhang?
As far as the steering being "up there", that wouldn't seem to matter on a car with the rack mounted to the crossmember; whether it's on the front or back, the sump has to land ahead of or behind the whole rack/crossmember unit.
Talk with Stampie and buy a his bellhousing and starter from his project "Pinto Bean". Find a Zetec SVT, use the XR4Ti's 5 speed Type 9.
Thats what I would do. Maybe some ITBs on the SVTs lower intake section.
This XR is an auto 
Plus the Falcon already has a T5 in it and I have the 2.3 bellhousing on the shelf. It is as if it was meant to be that a salvage titled, mouse dropping filled low-ish mile Merkur was dropped off in my driveway.
Looks like pinto and courier is the pan I need.
I know it exists because here it is!
I'm recovering from the flu but if you want I might be able to get pictures of a Pinto sump tomorrow.
Here's the pan in a Pinto.
And here's a pan outside the car.
Yep. That's what I need.
The search continues
That pan outside the car is an extra if that helps.
There are also aftermarket front sump pans, but they're almost certainly less friendly to the budget than a used Pinto pan.
In reply to Stampie :
PM Sent!
Yes, pinto/Mustang2 are front sumps. BTDT when I put a pinto 2.3 into a fairmont back in high school in 1991. For the “large” journal cranks it’s a bolt in/up. Small journal stuff requires some more thought to make it all work, mostly because those have a crank trigger front crank seal that’s a bit different iirc.
Racer Walsh, esslinger, race engineering all have “cheap” parts for 2.3’s...
I just wish that the esslinger tall iron block was available again.... Even if it was 2500$...
Stampie, your pan is from a 2.0 not a 2.3 Lima. Different motor.
In reply to hobiercr :
The fun part is the 2.0 is known as the "Pinto" engine.
hobiercr said:Stampie, your pan is from a 2.0 not a 2.3 Lima. Different motor.
Ok thanks. That wouldn't have been good.
I wonder how different the pans are...
I've owned both versions and there are no parts that interchange between the two engines.
Finding a 'Pinto" version of the 2.3L should be easier to find then a 2.0L. Starting in 1975 Ford dropped the import of the 2.0L and went with the 2.3L as the base engine. Ford made Pinto's to at least 1980.
In reply to RossD :
I don't know as I'm pretty Ford stupid. Ask me about Cadillac oil pans? Did you know you can put a 425 mid sump pan on a 500? Put it on without a gasket and rotate the crank to get witness marks where some rod bolts touch. Remove and dimple the pan. Install with gasket and of course moving your oil dipstick and pickup tubes. Ford 2.0 vs 2.3 no idea.
jimbbski said:I've owned both versions and there are no parts that interchange between the two engines.
Finding a 'Pinto" version of the 2.3L should be easier to find then a 2.0L. Starting in 1975 Ford dropped the import of the 2.0L and went with the 2.3L as the base engine. Ford made Pinto's to at least 1980.
I'd have to agree here, and to add pretty sure the 2.0 was a European design/build (think German). Prob about the only thing shared btwn the 2 is they're metric. I want to say the 2.3 Lima was one of the 1st widely used metric motors in the US. Now, to add confusion there was in fact a de-stroked 2.3 Lima which became the base 2.0 that was used in the 1st gen Rangers for a bit. But again, nothing to be shared with the early 2.0's in the Pinto
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